Peru Blog Numero 4

I am in my 4th week of being here in Peru. I am so proud of myself, for sticking to it and learning and growing. It only took me 2 weeks to get acclimated to my surroundings, and I can go anywhere and know where I am. I went to the school on last Wednesday to help out on my day off. It was the last class before Easter, and we had an Easter egg scavenger hunt and the children figured out clues in English. Sometimes I had to translate, but the kids were adorable and had fun. Li another volunteer from the program dressed in this huge bunny suit and was the "Easter Bunny." The kids loved it so much and almost tore him apart because of the joy. We gave them candy, and it was neat seeing them have fun because with the poor area they live, they don't get many treats or people in bunny suits. Teaching english is really hard, but I admire how well the other volunteers do. Especially Li and Jess with the small kids.

I had a nice weekend working at the orphanage, because I had a light bulb moment, and just realized how to do everything right, and now I'm not as nervous, and can tackle my last 2 weeks. The children are adorable, and even though they are teething and crying more now, I still don't mind as much being there taking care of them. And changing dipers is second nature for me now. Especially cloth ones. I am just so happy taking care of the babies. They all have distinct characteristics and personalities. My favorites are Geraldine and Orlando. Geraldine is so smart and laughs all the time. She also will have these moments of just sitting and being pensive. She'll stare into space and obviously be thinking about something. She also just laughs whenever she falls down while trying walk. Orlando is 3 months old, and has the most amazing head of hair. So much of it, and it is often styled in fo-hawk. He spit ups a lot, but is so squishy, and I just love holding him and giving him his bottle. Usually that is the most fun part. Feeding the babies. Geraldine is the best eater. What I love about Orlando is he'll cry when something is wrong. Not just because he gets attention.

I have the rest of my plans for my time in Peru basically planned out, so that is encouraging to see, but also a bit sad since I have my plane ticket home. What an odd thought to not know about my life in the states and to be going back there. I have signed up to do the Machu Picchu jungle trek for 4 days and 3 nights. I get to mountain bike, hike through a jungle and up to Machu Picchu. So jazzed for that adventure, and that begins the 15th of May. I'll post what it's like at the end of that week probably. 

Peru Blog Numero 3

Well I survived the most epic week of my life. It was a continuous movement of working with the babies at the orphanage and my volunteer friends leaving. I worked both days this weekend in the morning on Saturday for 5 hours and on Sunday afternoon for 5 hours by myself. Yep I watched 4 babies two days in a row sola. It was the most stressful hard weekend I've had I believe. Especially with the tias always yelling at me for not doing everything perfect even though the children are safe. I literally am scared to do anything because I don't want to be yelled at. They are very stern and care about the well-being of the children, but sometimes are a little over board. I wouldn't mind doing something different or being told to do it a specific way, but with kind words. They literally just yell at me and say I'm wrong then go on and on about why it's bad. All they have to say is Natalie please do this instead because that is what we are working for. I'd be fine. A gentle word turns away wrath, but sometimes I have to be snippy to let them know I was doing what they asked just had to change it a little for my well being. It's excellent character building and I thought I had worked with the hardest people ever in my past, but nope. These ladies are even harder so I am definitely going to use them in a story or play some day, and keep getting stronger.

Today I had a great moment of realization and a ha I know what I'm doing so suck that tia. One of the babies (Orlando) was crying and being fussy. I was working with some other children like I was told, but heard him being fussy so I went to check on him. Then one of the older orphan girls asked who was taking care of the babies, and I told her the Tia Daisy was because she was in the other room with the babies and said she didn't need my help. But the girl (Claudia) just passed orlando to me and I remembered from my day of soloness that it was time for his bottle so I made it for him and instantly started feeding him with it and he got chill and smiley. Then Daisy came in ready to glare and take control or yell at me and I was just sitting there with a happy feeding baby in my arms with this huge "what now" look and she closed the door. Needless to say he spit up on me 2 times, but it is alright. I was proud of myself, and that kept me going strong the last 2 hours.

I am really ready for my 3 days off and can't wait to just have me time to explore the city and eat at restaurants and read and buy groceries. I also made a delicious black bean chili and rice for dinner. Yay cooking skills coming into play. Well kind of. Bought my ticket to Guatemala. Can't wait to see everyone May 27th. 

Peru Blog Numero 2

Honestly, I don't know why I am still up. I have to be at the orphanage at 8am to help take care of the babies. Everyone went out tonight, and I'm exhausted so I didn't, but I'm up to the point I could have gone out. I had a really good day today though. I worked in the afternoon at the orphanage, and helped with the babies for a little bit, then spent the majority of the time helping the older children with their homework. I was helping Anna with her cursive, and after awhile she got tired of doing it, and refused to do it. So, to help her finish it I started doing it ridiculously terrible. All over the page and just being silly. Then she said, no like this "tia." And showed me how to do it correctly and therefore finished her homework. They call all the volunteers and ladies that live with them Tia which is aunt in spanish. I think it's cute, and at the end of the day when I was leaving they were giving me hugs and holding me tightly and not wanting me to leave. I love working with older children, and have officially decided I don't want a baby right now, and not for a long while, and I am going to stick to working with kids older than 5 whenever I can. I like the babies, but I just connect better with the bigger kids, and I am excited to work more afternoons.

Well to get to the orphanage, I take a small van-like bus that is usually filled with people. It is imposible to stand up without almost falling over on someone, but everyone is pretty chill about it. Just a normal part of life in Arequipa. Everyone takes the buses to get to work, the store, home, and school. Even elementary children ride it with me. I'm getting less stares, but it still is funny when the little ones stare at me like I'm a celeb or something. Just because I look very different then what they see, and the only times they see people like me is on the tele. I love just doing things that are apart of the culture in a city. It is getting easier for me to get comfortable in new settings. The best thing about the bus is that in order to get off you have to yell "baja" which means "down" in spanish, and that lets the conductor know to stop the bus. Then you scramble to get off while handing your coins to the conductor's aid.

I am feeling more comfortable and the other volunteers are still really cool and we all get along well. We have a volunteer dinner tomorrow night, and I am excited for that. We are having chili. I made some rice and black beans with lemon, pepper and salt for dinner tonight, and it was very delicious. Yay me for cooking something other than pasta. Anyway, I am going to bed now feeling tired. Got to be ready to help those babies tomorrow,and need my energy to change those poopey cloth dipers. 

Peru Blog Numero 1

Well after 1 long bus ride, 8 hours of sleep in 2 days, 3 subway rides, 4 sad see you laters, over paying a taxi, and 1 broken backpack strap later, I'm in Peru. Alive with all my minimal belongings and waiting to see what will happen. I extremely miss Argentina, and my family right now. It just hit me, but I think the lack of sleep and stress have increased my emoness, or something. I'm hoping after a very long sleep tonight and another nap tomorrow probably I'll feel much better and able to get my bearings of where I am. But on first thought, the volunteer house is nice enough, and the people are seeming to be nice. But there aren't many of us here now cause the other volunteers are at the beach for the weekend. The majority of the volunteers are from England though so that is interesting, but no one speaks Spanish really here at the volunteer house. I'm gonna try to push it a little I think so that I can still practice, but hey England. I'm the only person from the states so that's different too. I have an orientation and interview on Monday to discuss what I'll be doing specifically in this volunteer program, so I'll post later when I know. I actually have a closet, drawers and a shelf. It is nice to un pack my backpack, and organize my stuff in a more home like setting. But I am really ready to stop being a nomad. My friend Dani has been doing this for 2 years, and I admire him so much, and really miss him bunches. We WWOOFed together at the finca in Argentina, and laughed all the time, and I wish I could chat and laugh with him now. I'm battling loneliness a little, but am doing just fine. Just tired of being the newbie, and having to introduce myself and talk with everyone and make friends or at least people to hang with. I'm excited to go on some hikes here and just be in nature and explore.

Hindsight, the people of Peru are darker skinned, so I obviously will stick out. That is different to the way I blended a little better in Chile and Argentina, but hey I belong here and will embrace my gringaness and go with it. :) yay sunscreen. but I am about .5 shades darker so that's a plus! Love you guys. miss you.

Argentina Blog Numbero 7

Well the life of a WWOOFer is great. I love the other volunteers and what we get to do is so rewarding. I haven´t ever really gotten a change to work in a setting like a farm or working so hard with like minded chill fun people that at the end of the day we are exhausted, but drink tea and chat in spanish then go to bed by 11pm. I love it. I also love the freedom of not having to bathe, shave or even brush my hair. Everyone is smelly, sticky from apple juice, and covered in dirt. All our clothes are stained, and we continue to wear the same thing every day. I just love that atmosphere, and making juice is wonderful. We do it for about 5 hours in the morning switching between all the jobs and machines, then again in the afternoon for about 6 hours. I am in love with it. I never knew it was so much work to mass produce juice, but we make over 1,500 bottles of juice each day and it is all natural. Literally pressed fresh apple guts. You would think by now we would be sick of apple juice, but it never gets old, and at the end of the day the foamy stuff we drink at dinner. I am still so happy with the place I am, but I am sad to say my adventure in Argentina is coming to a close. By this time next week I will be in Peru to begin my next adventure helping children in an orphanage, and doing more growing as a person. Also I have been going by Nata here in Argentina for about 3 months, and really love my name being that. So I´m gonna keep that up even in the states. A new identity for a new me and I am still going to take Washington by storm. I am so jazzed for Guatemala to see my friends there. I great end to a wonderful year.

Life Again.

Well I´ve successfully completed 7 months and a couple days of being away from the USA. But to be honest, I´m terrified to go back home. I am so scared to go back to a place I feel I don´t belong. I know it sounds drastic and I´m only 20 years old, but with every fiber of my being, I know I don´t belong there. Since I know that, my heart and spirit is a little sick. I am excited to see my family and hang with some of my good friends, but in reality, I feel I´m not going back for me. I´m going back for them. I love Argentina, and really feel a connection here, and that I belong here. I´ve gone 20 years of my life feeling like I didn´t belong anywhere, and now I finally realize that is not true. I belong in Argentina. I know I still have many places to visit and maybe that will change, but the states are not for me. I don´t know what will happen this year at school, but I am really battling with the fact I feel I´m not going for me. I am tired of doing stuff for other people´s sake, and just to please them. I love the people in my life that love me for who I am, and will always love me. But I know there are people I am acuainted with that if I changed or did something ¨wrong¨they wouldn´t like me anymore. In fact, I´ve come accross those relationships and don´t want to deal with the shit that people put me through because I´m not perfect. Get over yourselves, and take me for what I am and who I was meant to be. I´m done with the drama of people in their white bread worlds, and when I do come back to the states to finish what I started so that I can move to a new life, I am taking it by storm and with my family and dear friends by my side, and my excellent self, nothing is every gonna bring me down. So suck that haters.

Argentina Blog Numero 6

When they said the apple doesn´t fall far from the tree they clearly had never picked up apples from the floor of an apple orchard with over 20 large trees. That being said, I have been spending the month of March working on an organic farm in Vista Flores, Mendoza, Argentina. La finca Pelegrino. The family I work with are all living in the same land in different homes, a mother and her 2 children and their spouces, her ex husband, and volunteers. The family sells the produce at a natural market on Saturdays in Mendoza which I helped out with yesterday. Definitely different then El Bolson, but still wonderful. People would come to talk to Anna the lady in charge whom knows so many things about your body and how to be healthy naturally. She is one of the most beautiful people I have ever met, and I love watching how much she loves her food and the people she helps and lives with. The other people in the market sold organic honey, and beauty products and other produce and wine. I loved talking to them all about their products and such. Also did you know that there is black honey and white honey? It just depends on what type of flower is pollonated. Interesting huh? Black honey is pretty good I must say. Not only just helping at the ferria,  I have been clearing apples from the floor of the apple orchard to get the prep ready for apple vinagar, and fresh apple juice without sugar. It is soo good. I am addicted and would love to make it when I get home. I am learning that you don´t need additives like salt, sugar or other junk to have delicious food. We have been eating a strick vegetarian and vegan diet here and its not that bad. We eat a lot of vegetables, and fruits and occasionaly whole wheat pasta. I really love nights we have pasta.The family is all vegan, but us volunteers get bread and eggs sometimes at meals which I really like. What my day looks like is this. We wake up at 7:30 am and meet up at 8 for breakfast. Then around 8:30 we do our first job of the day usually until 12ish. This job includes canning vegetables, cleaning the work shop we work in doing such, clearing apples from the ground or picking vegetables and fruits. Then we have lunch and get to rest until 4. I usually take a nap or read Harry Potter. but generally  we are all to tired to do anything really. Then at 4 the second job begins which includes, clearing more apples, picking apples, or making pasterizors for the jucie jars. Eventually in a week or so it will only be picking apples and making juice. So that will be the most interesting, but also the most stressful cause all the apples have to be picked. Luckely there are 11 volunteers from all over that are fun to work with. I am still very happy here, and love Argentina. I am still planning to come home, but leaving is getting harder and harder each time I think about it. I never thought I could fall in love with a place and culture and people as much as I have with Mendoza, Argentina, but I have, and will definitely come back.

I still can´t believe I´ve been gone for almost 7 months. Time has flown by, and I´ve changed so much and can´t wait to share my stories with you all when I get back. I´m going to continue living in the momen t and enjoying where I am at this moment.